Frontier markets appear to be the next big thing for the rapidly expanding ETF industry, particularly because investors are on the prowl for promising plays at a time when broad market indexes are caught up in the waves of market turmoil since the 2008 crash, according to an article on Emerging Money.

Indeed, broad ETFs targeting the developing world, such as the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund (NYSEArca: EEM), are becoming much more closely correlated with developed-market indexes, leaving investors looking for country-specific ETFs that might offer less correlated returns, the article said.

Relatively new products like the iShares MSCI Philippines Investable Market Index (NYSEArca: EPHE) and the Global X FTSE ASEAN 40 ETF (NYSEArca: ASEA) allow investors to access exposure to regions, individual countries and even economic organizations that can provide investors plays that weren’t at their disposal in the past, according to the report.

Head over to EmergingMoney.com to learn more about the performance and exposure of the frontier ETFs highlighted above.